Page 15 of Merciless Protector

“I knew what I was getting into.”

“You shouldn’t have been in there. Hell, Griff and I were working up a way to break you out.”

I chuckled at that. “I’m glad you didn’t.”

“It couldn’t have been easy.”

I let that hang in the air. If anyone could relate to my experiences, it was Connor. Hell came in many forms. Just because his prison had been his prep school didn’t mean he hadn’t gone through hell and back.

“It’s done,” I said.

“I owe you everything.”

He hadn’t exactly replied the way I thought he would. I stared into space a second before replying quietly, “He got away?”

“Damn local police were focused on the men leaving with the girls. They didn’t listen and go inside in time.”

That time had been me taking Tayla’s virginity and losing myself in the act. Hell, I hadn’t noticed Ruin leaving.“I made mistakes too,” I admitted.

“We all did.”

Before the silence that followed became awkward, I said, “I’m going to get some sleep. Tell Lizzy I’ll call her later.”

“I will,” he said, a beat before adding, “Thanks.”

We ended the call after that. I lay back on the bed with the phone between my hand and chest. For the first time, I feared closing my eyes, not for my safety, but for fear of the nightmares that would come when I did.

Staring at the coffered ceilings, exhaustion bound, chained, and dragged me into slumber against my will.

The nightmare began with something I should have noticed on the walk to my cell that first day. A prisoner I hadn’t noticed because I’d been facing forward shouted, “That’s the one.”

It had been enough for me to turn and glance over my shoulder. The guard behind me nodded. I hadn’t made anything of it because there were all kinds of lewd things yelled as I walked past the cells. I’d wrongly assumed the guard’s nod was a form of acknowledgment, like a grain of salt.

Later that night, when my cellmate had given me the lower bunk, another thing I should have taken more notice of, the setup happened.

The click of the lock releasing the door gave me a second to ponder my situation before the small enclosure filled with inmates there to hold me down as the man who’d laid claim walked in.

I jackknifed up, dripping with sweat as I pushed the memory back down where it belonged. As I tried to take control of my racing heart, I wondered if I would ever have a good night's sleep again.

To chase away the bad, I conjured a different memory. Her face was that of the angel that rescued me from all that. Just like I had that night, I focused solely on her. As her lips parted and begged me to be her savior when she was mine.

Her name left my lips like a prayer. “Tayla.”

10

TAYLA

From my personal research, the sickly sweet smell from the cloth was chloroform, I thought as I roused. Because I knew the effects could last anywhere from twenty minutes to two hours, I wasn’t sure how long I’d been out.

I didn’t immediately open my eyes. Don’t Panic, I thought to myself while taking a slow, cleansing, silent breath. Instead, I listened for any sound. There was none. Slowly, I let my eyes open. I didn’t recognize the room that I was in. What I realized rather quickly was that my hands were tethered above my head to a white metal headboard. The metal bent in whimsical, swirling scrollwork from what I could see.

Continuing my perusal of the room with my eyes, I found a small table on the opposite wall in the corner. There was a lamp with a scalloped edged shade that was feminine. A dim glow from the lamp chased away some of the shadows in the room.

What I didn’t see was a window, and I knew instantly that I was likely in an underground room. This was because of the complete absence of sound except for what was created by me.

If I couldn’t hear anything, then most likely no one could hear me. Thus, I didn’t call out, not yet, at least. I also hadn’t tugged on my bindings. I hadn’t wanted to alert anyone I was awake until I could assess my situation. That done, I finally took note of what I was wearing and what I wasn’t.

My jeans and shirt were gone. The silky material that lay against my skin and nearly skimmed my thighs wasn’t mine. But nothing felt weird between my legs, so I assumed I hadn’t been molested in any way. This was a blessing as I did my best not to freak out.

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